


Banlaoch

by BridgetteIrish



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/F, Supercat Week - Day 8 - Creator's Choice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-07
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-08-07 05:26:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7702429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BridgetteIrish/pseuds/BridgetteIrish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kara Nael, daughter of the Queen of Avalon, is sent from the enchanted island, the only home she's ever known, to raise a half-human child in the world of men.  Along the way, she meets friends and enemies, learns more of the powers gifted to her from the Five Goddesses, the legacy of her life on Avalon.  As she grows, fights for her life and falls in love, she also learns the true meaning of her quest to be a Banlaoch, a true heroine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Banlaoch

**Author's Note:**

> My one and only contribution to SuperCat Week 2.
> 
> Please enjoy this prologue. I very much look forward to writing more.
> 
> Rating to go up in future chapters

“It is time, Kara.”  
  
Kara Nael looked up at her mother, Alura, Queen of Avalon and begged to be relieved of the monumental task being set her.  
  
“Please, mother.  Do not send me away.  Surely there is another that can bear this burden!”  Tears streamed down her face and she looked to the priestess that stood at her mother’s side, holding an infant that would soon become Kara’s charge.  The baby yawned and let out a tiny squeak and Kara’s face became more stricken.  “I know nothing of caring for a child.”  
  
“You know more than you think, my daughter, and your power will follow you from Avalon.  Though you leave the island, the gifts of the island will never leave you.  This child is not of Avalon, Kara.  He cannot stay here.  While he was born of a priestess, yes, his father is of the human world and has no ties to our own.  We cannot raise outsiders, Kara.  You know the law.”  
  
Kara twisted her hands together, a habit her mother and the other priestesses had spent years trying to break her of, but she was scared and angry and her childhood ticks comforted her.  “Why me, Mother?”  
  
“This child is of your blood, Kara, which you know.”  
  
“But it is Lara’s child!  Why must I be punished for her temptation!”  Kara squeezed her fists together and the light in her eyes became bright and hot.  She knew she was losing her temper and that she did not yet have a handle on controlling the gifts of Avalon when her emotions got the better of her.  But she didn’t care.  Hot tears continued to stream down her face and she shook like a leaf in the apple trees that dotted the island.  
  
“Lara has neither your strength, nor your power, _M’inion_.  She must remain on Avalon.  Come, Kara.  No more stalling and no more quarrelling.  It is decided.”  Alura gestured to the priestess at her side, who stepped forward, and with care and a soft smile, laid the infant in Kara’s trembling arms.  
  
Kara looked up at her mother, then around her, taking in her last look of Avalon, the island where she was born, where she had been taught the ancient ways, been given her gifts.  Thirteen years she had known only this place.  Being forced to leave felt like swallowing a stinging nettle.  Her tears came unbidden again.  Her eyes turned from her paradise home to the child looking up at her from her strong arms and back to her mother.  She knew her mother loved her, in her way.  But the Queen of Avalon mustn’t show favor, even to the daughter she bore under the Singing Moon, so Kara grew up just as all the other Avalon youth, learning the rituals, gaining power, a princess in name only.  All are equal on Avalon, save the Queen.  
  
“May I return?”  
  
“In time.”  Alura cupped Kara’s face and Kara welcomed the affection like a pear tree deprived of water.  “You must fulfill this duty, Kara.  This is the trial set down for you by the Five Goddesses.  They will speak to you.  Listen to them and when they say you are ready, you may come home.”  
  
Kara nodded.  Invoking the Goddesses gave her a strength, a purpose and a peace she needed to spur her on.  
  
“Care for the child.  You are his mother now.  Be brave, my Kara.   _Is brea liom tu_.”  
  
“I love you too, Mother.”  Kara turned and stepped into the waiting boat, summoned to bear her from Avalon to the world of men and of war and away from her land of women and of peace.  The boat started from shore.  Kara hugged the baby to her breast and took in her island for the last time.  She relished the smell of apples, ripening on the late summer branches, the sound of the wind whistling across the tops of the forest trees, the taste of magic in the air before the boat was swallowed by the mists and she could see no more.

 

++++++++++++++

 

When the boat slid into the reeds on the edge of the lake at the foot of Glastonbury Tor, a cold, relentless rain was falling across the sprawling moor.  Kara’s tears matched the rain and she raised the hood on her gaberdine and tucked Kal’s blanket around his face to keep him dry.  She didn’t know what she’d do if he caught an ague and she was forced to care for a sick infant.

She stepped from the boat and fought down a sob as she looked across the vast hills surrounding the lake.  Where would she find shelter?  Food? For all of the times she had felt ostracized and different on Avalon, she had never truly felt alone.  Now, in this enormous world, surrounded by unfamiliar territory and humans she knew only by their enmity with her kind, the crushing loneliness forced her to her knees.  She tucked Kal against her shoulder as she emptied her stomach on the wet grass.  Kal began to cry, his wail echoing off the rocky hillsides.  Kara joined his cries with her own, curling into herself.  

A gentle, unexpected hand on her shoulder startled Kara and she leapt to her feet, squeezing Kal tighter against her and holding a hand in front of her.  Her eyes glowed white hot as she prepared to incinerate first and ask questions later.

“Calm yourself, Kara!”  Her boat driver lowered her hood and the woman revealed to her in the grey light of the rainstorm made Kara gasp.

“ _Aintín Astra?_ ” she asked, astounded.  “What in the name of Brighid are you doing here?”  Astra had been exiled by her own sister, Kara’s mother, nearly a year ago.

“I still have friends, eyes and ears, on the island.  You needed me, Kara, so I came.”

Kara launched herself into her aunt’s waiting arms, accidentally crushing Kal between them.  The baby yelped and Kara stepped away, cooing over him for a moment.  “Sorry, _ceann beag_.”

Astra stroked Kara’s cheek, wiping tears and rain and dirt away.  “Come, Little One.  There is a village a league to the east.  There you’ll find a friendly inn and a warm fire, some milk for the _gasúr_.”

They travelled quickly, putting on bursts of speed when sufficiently hidden by copses of convenient trees.  The rain let up as they came within view of the small village.  Astra stopped short and turned to Kara.  “This is where I leave you, _neacht_.”

“What?  No!”  Kara panicked and nearly dropped her precious cargo before Astra caught her arms and braced the baby between them.  “Aunt Astra, you cannot leave me now.  I… I am afraid to be alone.”

“I know, _mo leanbh_ , but I am an outlaw.  If I show my face in this country, it is straight to prison and the noose for me.”

“There is no prison or noose built by man that can hold us!” Kara argued desperately.

Astra laid a calming hand on Kara’s cheek.  “Men have tools of torture you know nothing of, my Kara.  I hope you never encounter them for yourself, but should I be caught, my fate is sealed.”  She shrugged off the pack from her shoulder and placed it on Kara’s.  “This is full of supplies, a little food, a change of clothes, clothes and necessaries for the _gasúr_ , and a bit of silver.  Ration it well, and find work, if you can.  Use your powers sparingly and only in secret,” Astra warned with a flash of her dark eyes.  “Men of this land fear what they do not understand.  Do not expose yourself.  Protect yourself and care for the babe and no more.”  She swallowed heavily and Kara recognized the sorrow reflected in her own countenance.  “With judicious use of your gifts, the land will provide much of what you need.”

She wrapped Kara in her arms one more time.  “The Goddesses be with you, _neacht_.  I will look in on you when I can.”  She placed a hand on Kal’s forehead and whispered an Avalonian blessing over him.  “I love you, Kara.”  She stepped away.  “Go.”

Kara stood and watched Astra turn and walk away, before looking about in the darkness for onlookers.  When none were found, she shot into the sky, soared above the trees, and was gone.

 

+++++++++++

 

As Kara entered the village border, Kal was fussing quietly in her arms.  She would need to feed him soon or his wails would be heard throughout the town.  It had started to rain again.  The sun had fallen behind the horizon more than an hour ago and there was no answer at the locked door of ‘The Broken Arrow Inn.’

Kara snuck stealthily to the small barn behind the inn.  With as little sound as she could make, she bent open the lock on the barn door and closed herself in, revelling in the quiet, dry warmth that surrounded her.  Even the scent of horse and cow manure was welcome as it hearkened rest and shelter, at least for the night.  

“Shh, _ceann beag_ , shh.  I’ll have milk for you soon.  I promise.”  She laid Kal gently in a pile of hay and dug a tin mug from Astra’s pack.  She leapt the nearest cow’s stall with little effort and with the practice of a skilled milkmaid, filled the cup with milk in minutes.  Astra proved a true guardian angel when the pack provided a glass bottle with a sheepskin nipple which she filled immediately and put to the baby’s lips.  He ate hungrily in her arms as she dug a small seed cake and a bit of hard cheese from the bag.  When guardian and child were both sated, Kara looked about for a place to bed down for the night.  She floated up to the hayloft where she tucked Kal against her, shrugged out of her wet gaberdine and fell into a fitful sleep.

 

+++++++++++

 

She was awoken by the sound of shuffling and footsteps and the unmistakeable sound of wood against wood.  

Kara opened her eyes to an arrow trained directly between her eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> Irish translations: (from Google Translate)  
> Banlaoch - Heroine  
> Baile Fágáil - Leaving Home  
> M'inion - My daughter  
> Is brea liom tu - I love you  
> ceann beag - little one  
> gasúr - child (boy)  
> neacht - niece  
> mo leanbh - my child


End file.
